best small business cities 2015

Helping Small Businesses Grow…

The Third Annual Best Small Business

Cities Ranking

•Anita Campbell, Founder and CEO, Small Business Trends

• Rohit Arora, CEO & co-founder, Biz2Credit

• John Mooney, President, Over The Moon PR

© 2015 Biz2Credit, LLC. All Rights Reserved - Proprietary and Confidential

Today’s Presenters

Anita Campbell, Entrepreneur, founder of SmallBizTrends.com

• Importance of small businesses in the economy

• Tips for growing small companies

Rohit Arora, CEO of Biz2Credit

• Results of Biz2Credit’s 2015 Best Small Business Cities study

• Top sources of funding in the ever changing credit marketplace

• Ways to improve your creditworthiness

John Mooney, President, Over the Moon PR• Advertising vs PR

• Social Media Marketing

• Blog Marketing


Today’s Presenter

• Frequent guest speaker and panelist at small business seminars and conferences

• Widely regarded as an authoritative voice on small business issues, Anita publishes several successful online

media properties reaching more than 10 million small biz owners each year

• She shares her voice on the OpenForum.com and is an invited contributor at the SBA.gov Community site,

among others

Anita Campbell

Founder, CEO and Publisher of Small Business Trends


Today’s Presenter

Chief Executive Officer of Biz2Credit (www.biz2credit.com)

• Arranged more than $1.2 billion in funding to small businesses since 2007

• Biz2Credit’s network consists of more than 1.6 million users and over 1,300 lenders

• One of the country’s leading experts in small business finance; frequently quoted by CNBC, Wall St. Journal,

Inc., American Banker, and others

• Named “2011 Entrepreneur of the Year” and “2014 Fast Fifty” by Crain’s New York Business.

Rohit Arora

Biz2Credit


Today’s Presenter

John Mooney

President, Over the Moon PR


• More than 25 years in public relations and marketing

• Created several award-winning public relations programs for a range of clients

• Has helped numerous small companies grow their businesses

• Expert in traditional and social media

• Veteran journalist

Discussion Topics


• Trends in Small Business

• The Top Small Business Cities in America

• How to Secure Financing

• How to Market Your Small Business

• Q & A

Anita Campbell, Entrepreneur & Founder of

Small Business Trends


Small Businesses:

The Backbone of The American Economy

Anita Campbell, Entrepreneur & Founder of

Small Business Trends


• Over half of America’s workers own or work for a small company

• Small businesses generate 2 out of every 3 jobs today

• Small companies add greatly to the economic growth of the country

• From Farmers to Mechanics to Doctors – Small Businesses are

everywhere!

Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development


Biz2Credit Study:

2015’s Top Cities for Small Businesses in America



For this study, Biz2Credit Analyzed over 12,000 Small Businesses of les than 250 employees and

less than $10 million in annual revenues to determine the Best Cities for Small Businesses. Factors

studied to determine the rankings includes:

• Average Annual Revenues

• Business Credit Scores

• Age of Business

• BizAnalyzer Score (which factors in cash flow, tax returns and local market conditions)


Riverside-San Bernardino area is a hub for IT, advanced manufacturing, food processing, health &

medical, professional services. Riverside's Office of Economic Development provides valuable

resources to first-time business owners and existing companies looking to expand. Its support

networks including incubators, accelerators, and co-working spaces, as well as a 'Shop Riverside'

campaign to promote local businesses to highlight the area's wide range of retailers and restaurants.

Chicago is a major financial center and media center with a robust technology sector, a large number

of manufacturing jobs, and it is an important hub for food processing.

What prevents New York from being the number one city is the high cost of doing business. Rents are

high, taxes are high, and businesses are tightly regulated.



Orlando had the youngest businesses. Companies are sprouting up around Orlando in the

entertainment and technology sectors, as well as service companies. The cost of real estate is much

more affordable, it's a low tax state, and the weather is nice. The Sunshine State is a vibrant part of

the country right now; it's not your grandfather's Florida anymore. It is attracting younger people and

immigrants.

San Jose is still booming, but the area is becoming an incredibly expensive place to do business. It is

the West Coast equivalent of New York in that way.

We are seeing a lot of small business activity in and around Philadelphia. Many neighborhoods are

becoming revitalized there.

San Diego has a budding technology center, and the city is trying hard to come out of the shadow of

other booming California cities, such as Los Angeles, Riverside, San Francisco and San Jose


The fundamental problem in the market today

SMALL BUSINESS

OWNERS

BANKS & OTHER

LENDERS

LACK OF

TRANSPARENCY

• What product is best for me?

• Where do I go?

• Am I getting the best rate?

• Process too cumbersome

• How do I find good borrowers?

• How risky are they?

• How do I retain customers?

• How do I manage declines?

• Process too cumbersome


Biz2Credit is the solution

SMALL BUSINESS

OWNERS

BANKS & OTHER

LENDERS

MARKETPLACE

Online

quicker

simpler

lower risk



How to Market Your Small Business

While many people view the disciplines as interchangeable, advertising and public relations are

quite different, even though they're commonly thought of as one and the same. Let’s start with the

Similarities between advertising and public relations:

• Both are marketing tools geared to elevate a consumer's interest in a product or service

• Provide information to the consumer

• Build awareness about companies and their products

• Use media (print, TV/Cable, radio or internet) as a conduit for message delivery

• Seek to increase sales, promote ideas, or create a “call to action”

• Often handled by outside contractors

• Require strong language and skills and writing talent

A p.r. firm can develop a cost effective program that can keep your company top-of-mind for a lot

less than an expensive advertising campaign


Differences between advertising and

public relations

Paid Space or “Earned” Coverage

Advertising: A company pays for advertising space. You know for sure that your ad will air or be

printed. Because it is paid, an ad is guaranteed to appear.

Public Relations: From press releases to major studies, a solid p.r. campaign can help you stay

focused on getting free media exposure for your company and its products/services. There is no

guarantee of coverage.

Creative Control vs. No Control

Advertising: Since you pay for it, you have creative control on what goes into the ad.

Public Relations: You have no control over how the media presents your information, if they

decide to use your info at all. They're not obligated to cover your event or publish your press

release just because you sent it.


Differences between advertising and

public relations

Varying Shelf Life

Advertising: Since you pay for ad time or space, you can run your ads over and over for as long

as your budget allows. Overall, an ad generally has a longer shelf life than a press release.

Public Relations: You only submit a press release about the launch of a new product or news

conference once, and then it becomes “old news.” PR exposure often has timeliness to it. An

editor won't publish your same press release three or four different times in a magazine; they will

run ads as many times as you will pay for them.

Saying Something About Yourself vs. Third-Party Credibility

Advertising: Consumers know when the read an ad, they're trying to be sold a product or service.

Public Relations: When someone reads an article written by a third-party (someone not employed

by your company), it carries more weight. When your views, product, or event is covered on TV, the

audience sees something you didn't pay for with ad dollars and view it differently, with more validity,

than they do paid advertising.


Tools for Social Media Success

Nurture relationships & maintain presence: communicate with network every day so they don’t lose

interest.

Use Twitter and Facebook to Foster Relationships

• The immediate nature of social media and the rise of "citizen journalists" have made it an

incredible powerful tool for small business owners to build visibility and brand recognition

• Engage in conversations with your followers; take their compliments and listen to their

gripes. Even complainers give valuable information

• Use Facebook and Twitter to find and engage with customers (ex:

https://twitter.com/FoleysNY)

• Increase back-links to your website site


Tools for Social Media Success

Leverage LinkedIn

• LinkedIn can help you become a thought leader in your industry. Join and become an active

participant in relevant groups, monitor discussions, post useful information, and look for

questions from potential leads.

Integrate photos and video into social media marketing mix

• Incorporating video in social media posts greatly increases attention to your business.

• 73% of small biz owners use YouTube, keyword titled videos.


Blogging

Creating a blog can play an important role in getting the word out about your company. Part diary,

part newspaper, a blog can be positioned as a way to promote your products, services, events, and

issues. How can you build a better blog – one that engages followers and has them eagerly

awaiting your next edition?.

Stick to what you know

• Be sure your blog ties back to what you do. Talk about ways your business meets a need,

provides a service, or offers a product.

Stay on schedule

• Publish your blog on a regular basis, and people will know when to expect it. How often? For

starters, try every other Monday, or alternating Thursdays each month. Taking a week off?

Tell your readers, so they can come back when you do.


Blogging

Create concise prose

• Write short, relevant paragraphs that relate to your customer base. A maximum amount

should be five to six paragraphs.

• If writing isn’t your thing, consider asking one of your staff to blog for your business or hire a

freelance ghostwriter. Each entry in your blog adds another chapter to the story that is your

small business.

When you create good content, it increases your SEO rankings and keeps your name and

business in front of current and potential customers.

Q&A

Helping Small Businesses Grow…

For any other queries, you can reach out to us at 800-200-5678 or write to us at [email protected].

You can also tweet your questions to us, @biz2credit

Stay connected with us:

/biz2credit

@biz2credit


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